San Francisco, California, March 2000
In terms of pain - physical pain - Miki hadn't felt this bad since the Manhattan Incident. Her sides burned and her muscles ached. Her breath was heavy and her legs were sore. Miki had run several city blocks without stopping, and all after diving out of a moving car into a busy street. Her body was bruised and cut up. It was practically screaming at her to just flop over and sleep. But she couldn't do that. That was the last thing she could do. Miki was being hunted, and by men who she suspected had the same powers she did.
However, Miki knew she couldn't run forever. Her powers were useful, but they couldn't keep her stamina up indefinitely. Miki couldn't turn around and fight either. If her hunters were truly physics, which was the only theory that made sense, then Miki had little chance of defeating them. Even if they were of similar strength to Miki, which was unlikely, Miki doubted she could win a three-on-one fight. That left hiding as Miki's only viable option, and if the hunters had telepathy, this would be quite difficult to pull off.
But not impossible.
Miki had recently entered a more suburban area of San Francisco. She ran past a variety of family houses, passing through their front or backyards. As she did so, an idea formed in her mind. While her pursuers probably had stronger psychic abilities than Miki did, they would surely have their limits. Miki knew that the range of her telepathy was about ten meters. The kidnappers probably had a larger ranger, but it couldn't be infinite. If Miki could hide somewhere that was outside of her hunters' telepathic range, then she might just be able to effectively hide from them. They would pass her by, without realizing they had lost her until it was too late.
At the moment, Miki's hunters weren't in sight or sound of her, but she knew they were still following her. She had come within earshot of them multiple times during the chase. Even though Miki could see or hear them now didn't mean she had lost them. It did mean that she had space between them. Space she could use to get out of their range and lose them for good.
After Miki escaped another backyard, pushing through a row of bushes, Miki decided to cut left and head across the road. There she could see a small, one-story house. It was far from the prettiest house she had seen, with an overgrown front yard and faded white paint that was slowly peeling away. The house didn't seem to have been under any proper care for a long time. Considering the lights were off and no car sat in the driveway, Miki guessed that the house was abandoned. If true, then that house would be the perfect hiding place. Hell, it could even be a place for Miki to stay.
Assuming, of course, she escaped her hunters.
Miki bolted across the road as fast as she could, hoping that her hunters wouldn't spot her. Fortunately, the street was empty, so Miki was able to get across with little delay. As for if anyone, whether they were the kidnappers or not, saw her, Miki didn't know. She could only hope that no one did. Once on the other side, she quickly ran over to the side of the house. There she ducked down and surveyed her options.
There were two windows on this side of the house, one near the front, where she was at, and one near the back. Miki probably could have simply walked through the front door. Even if it wasn't abandoned, the person living here clearly wasn't home. But it was still safer to get in through a more discreet entrance. Of the two windows, Miki chose to enter the furthest one, which would give her more distance from her kidnappers.
Moving swiftly, Miki walked up to the window, peering inside. Well, at least she tried. A curtain denied any visuals into the room. But Miki did not hear any thoughts coming from inside. Of course, she may have had the incredibly unfortunate luck to stumble across another psychic or at least someone immune to the powers of one. So, Miki used her telepathy to move the curtains and peer inside. Just in case. As it turned out, the room was empty after all. While it was dark, this only further supported that no one was inside, and Miki did not see anyone sleeping anywhere.
Checking her surroundings, Miki felt confident enough that she was alone, and decided to break in. The window was locked, but her telepathy made short work of the latch. Miki slid the window open and carefully stepped inside.
After closing the window behind her and stepping through the curtain, Miki released a sigh of relief as she entered the room. She was, at least theoretically, safe. Even if it was only for a little while, she could sit down and relax. But, first things first, the lights. Feeling around for a bit, Miki eventually found the light switch with her telepathy and switched it on. A light attached to the ceiling lit up, illuminating the room. At least, it tried to. The light flickered and, when it finally stabilized, it was still a little dim. But Miki could see nonetheless.
Allowing her to see the bizarre setting she had stepped into.
Miki had stepped into what seemed like a study. Bookshelves stood against the walls of the room, all except one, each filled with a variety of books. The one wall that wasn't covered by books was the one directly in front of her. On the left side was a door, allowing entry into the room. On the right side of the wall was a wooden desk that faced it. None of this was inherently weird. What made the room bizarre was what hung on the wall before the desk. That portion of the wall, like all the others, was hidden from view. But it wasn't by books. It was by newspapers.
Miki walked up to the wall, staring at the newspapers curiously. While there was a variety of them, they were all about the same subject. Mutants. Miki began to gloss over them out of curiosity. There were articles about the Manhattan Incident, articles about the attack on Washington, and several other more trivial events. Miki saw several articles about some disgraced scientist. There were a few about an earthquake that hit Chornobyl a year ago. It was clear that the owner of this house was obsessed with mutants.
Miki could understand. If she could, Miki would dedicate the rest of her life to eradicating those monsters. Especially the one that killed her parents. But, even with her powers, Miki knew she couldn't do much against them. So she resolved to find her childhood home. From the looks of the house, the owner probably didn't have the capabilities to take down a mutant either, but that didn't seem to dissuade them.
Miki turned away from the wall of newspapers and decided to examine the bookshelves. Kneeling before one bookshelf, Miki gazed at the titles imprinted on the spines of the various books. Like the newspapers, all of the books all had something in common. But it was broader than just mutants. It seemed to be biology and other natural sciences. There were books about earthquakes, radiation, and various forms of life, such as insects and reptiles.
One book in particular that caught Miki's attention was one about echolocation. Out of curiosity, Miki removed the book from the shelf and opened it. She flipped through the pages, stopping occasionally to look at a picture of a bat or a dolphin. With the contents of the newspapers, Miki found it a bit odd that this book would be here. Sure, echolocation was an ability used by certain animals, but none of the mutants that have appeared seemed to have the ability. It wasn't something a mutant would need, considering the power they already possessed. Perhaps the book wasn't associated with the newspapers on the wall. Perhaps none of them were.
Miki sat there, continuing to examine the books, her mind slowly forgetting about the situation she was in as she indulged her curiosity. However, this was a grave mistake. Due to this distraction, Miki failed to hear the sounds of a vehicle pulling into the garage. She failed to hear the door open and soft footsteps make their way down the hall outside of the room. Miki even failed to notice, due to a combination of the distraction made by the books and her exhaustion from the prior chase, the quiet thoughts of a stranger approaching the room she resided in.
Miki was caught off guard when the door suddenly flew open and a man entered the room.
Potrero Hill, San Francisco
Joe Brody carefully pulled into the driveway of his small home in his car. The car was an old beat-up, cerulean Renault Alpine A310 from the early 80s. Rusty and worn, Joe had been able to buy it at a cheap price, using a large portion of the money leftover from CCI and his days as a nuclear physicist. He was still paying it off, and he always had to keep a portion of his savings locked away for whenever something broke. But it was good enough to get him to work and back, which was all Joe needed.
The house was far better looking than the car. It was small to be sure, with only a single story, and it was far from the prettiest house in Potrero Hill. But unlike the car, this house had come to Joe for free thanks to the will of his deceased parents. Joe sighed as he stepped out of his car and closed the door. He sometimes wondered what his parents would say about all of this. About the mutants. About the deaths of Joe's wife and son. About his plan to avenge them.
They had died before the Manhattan Incident. The scariest thing they had to live through was the Vietnam War and the surrounding Cold War. It was almost ironic. Joe's parents lived through the terror of nuclear war, and now he had to live through the terror of what nuclear weapons created. But Joe did not fear the mutants. He hated them. He wished death upon them all, and he hoped his plan could help them reach that goal.
Joe walked up to his front door, unlocking the series of latches and bolts. The door eventually swung open and Joe entered his home. He briefly considered sitting down on his sofa and relaxing for a while. It had been a tiring day and a part of him wanted to rest. But Joe knew that he couldn't. Ever since Sandra died, Joe had been formulating a plan to avenge her death. He was still preparing for it, and he couldn't afford to delay it. Procrastination, even if it was for a little rest, was not an option.
He had to get this done, for Sandra and Ford.
Joe quickly walked down the hallway, turning the lights on as he did so. He approached the study room, where he kept much of his work. But he failed to notice that, from under the door, light was visible in the room. It was because of this that, when Joe swung the door open, he was surprised to find that someone was inside.
At the sound of the door opening, Miki dropped the book and whirled around, backing against the bookshelf. She cursed herself for getting caught off guard. Only this man wasn't like her captors. He was normal. Miki could hear his thoughts. This time she had let herself get distracted despite being in an unfamiliar place. Of course, her exhaustion probably weakened the strength of her powers, but she still should have been more careful.
"What the hell?" the man exclaimed. "What are you doing in my house?"
Miki remained quiet, slowly standing up. She could quickly tell that the man was the owner of the house, and not just because of his thoughts or his being here. The man's appearance matched the house he lived in. He had old and faded clothes, wearing a brown jacket over a black shirt. He wore pants that had several tears and shoes that were ready to retire. The man had disheveled brown hair and he was unshaven. The man's appearance as a whole was just tired. Even with a surprised expression on his face, the man seemed tired. He looked at her with tired eyes.
Despite being tired herself, especially from diving out of a moving car, Miki could probably escape. She had her powers after all, and even though they were probably weaker due to her exhaustion, Miki could probably still use them to escape. She could use her telepathy to close the door in the man's face and then bolt for the window. But right before she did so, she heard the man's thoughts suddenly shift, focussing on her various cuts and bruises.
Surprisingly soft, the man asked, "Are you okay?"
The question, though Miki had heard it form in the man's thoughts, still caught her off guard. No one had ever asked Miki that before. No one since her parents' deaths anyway. Sure, most of the past two years had been spent traveling, and Miki hadn't exactly been social during that time. But even when she was at the orphanage, no one had ever bothered to ask her that question. Not to mention that, while the people at the orphanage were either staff or fellow orphans, this man was a total stranger. Miki was intruding in his home. Yet he was the only person to ask her such a question. It was a very basic question, but it was one Miki had only ever heard from her parents before.
"What happened to you?" the man then asked.
Snapping back to reality, Miki glowered at the man. "That is none of your business," she snarled.
The man frowned and adopted a harsh voice to match her own. "Considering you're in my house, I think it is my business," the man retorted.
"Then I'm sure you won't mind if I just leave," Miki said.
However, the man shook his head. "Not in that condition you're not," he said. The man looked over her various cuts and bruises. "If you won't tell me what happened, would you at least let me patch you up?"
"Hell no," Miki growled. She gave the man the harshest gaze she could muster. However, she couldn't help but hear the man's thoughts. To her surprise, the man seemed to genuinely care about her condition. He was trying to form theories as to what happened to her, and a plan on what to do with her. But that plan didn't involve any sort of punishment, nor was it anything despicable like selling her off to a human trafficking ring. It was a plan on how to heal her and return her to her parents.
This thought led the man to ask, "Then how about I bring you back to your parents?"
The question, despite Miki hearing it in the man's mind, still made her freeze up. The memory of her parents' deaths popped into her mind, and sadness gripped her soul. Miki lowered her head, trying to hide her face, hoping to hide what she was feeling. But the man picked up on her reaction and came to a logical conclusion.
"Or perhaps the orphanage you came from?" he asked.
Miki's sadness turned into anger. Looking back at the man's face, she yelled, "Maybe I'm just a thief! Maybe I came here to steal your money and your things!"
"Well you're quite a bad thief if you are one," the man quickly countered. "The only thing you've been able to steal so far is a book and you didn't seem very interested in taking it."
Miki only responded by sharpening her glare. At the same time, though, she began considering using force to escape. She easily, could, even in her current state. So what if the man was offering to heal her. It was probably a ploy to take her to the police so she can be arrested. Though, the man's thoughts didn't support that idea. Rather, the man had returned his focus to Miki's injuries.
With a sigh, the man said, "If you're that sensitive about it, I won't pry anymore. Just let me treat your injuries and I'll let you go."
Miki looked at the man with distrust, but he seemed to be genuine. His thoughts didn't reveal any plot to capture her. He seemed to actually want to help her. Besides, she should be safe from her hunters, and her body was practically screaming for Miki to accept the man's offer.
With a reluctant sigh, Miki nodded and said, "Fine." She then quickly added, "But if you try anything, you'll regret it."
"Got it," the man said dismissively. "Follow me." The man didn't approach her. He didn't try to grab her. He simply stepped out of the room and began heading down the hallway. Miki carefully followed him.
The two of them walked down a narrow hallway. It was dimly lit, with the light fixture fastened to the ceiling needing a bulb change. Miki kept a safe distance behind the man, watching for any sign that he might attack. She kept track of his thoughts as well, but they were all pretty much theories about her origins.
Maybe she escaped an abusive family, or perhaps an abusive orphanage if she doesn't have one, his mind rattled. Maybe she got lost. Maybe she got hit by a car and was separated from her parents. Miki saw the man briefly glance back at her. It certainly seems like it, with those bruises, the man considered. But then he thought, or perhaps she had just escaped some sort of human trafficking ring.
Miki kept quiet, trying not to give away how close that theory was to the truth. Hell, for all Miki knew, perhaps that was the truth.
The man's mind shifted and he looked back at her to say, "My name is Joe. Joe Brody."
"Good for you," Miki muttered.
The man, named Joe apparently, rolled his eyes but did not reply. He did not seem to be expecting Miki to offer her name in return. Which was good, since Miki had no intention of doing so.
They left the hallway shortly after, entering a small living room. It looked like any ordinary living room. There was a couch pressed against the opposite wall, just below a window looking out towards the road, with an ottoman set before it. There was a small television set on top of a short, wooden table that was against the wall to their right and facing the couch. However, all of the furniture seemed old and worn. There were several tears in both the couch and the ottoman and the wood of the table seemed thin and weak. The television looked as if it was at least a decade old. To the right, passed the television, was a small opening that led to another room, which seemed from a short glance to be a kitchen.
"Sit there," Joe said, gesturing to the couch. "I'll be back in a moment," he said as Miki reluctantly sat down. But before he left the room, he turned back and added, "If you know what's good for you, you'll stay put." He then left, entering the kitchen.
Miki scoffed but sat down. She didn't like the idea of having to rely on anyone, especially a total stranger, but she didn't have much of a choice. While she could easily escape, she wouldn't be able to get very far in her condition, and she didn't feel that she was safe from her hunters just yet. So while a part of her was yelling for Miki to take the opportunity to escape, she forced herself to stay still. Miki could at least take advantage of the man's hospitality before she did so.
At about that time, Miki felt her stomach rumble, groaning for food. She hadn't eaten anything in a while, and she had expended much of her energy trying to escape her captors. A part of her didn't like the idea of asking for food, especially from a stranger, but her stomach didn't give her much of a choice.
"You got any food?" Miki called out quietly. Too quietly, in fact. While Joe heard her, he didn't hear exactly what she said.
Peeking his head into the room, Joe asked, "You say something?"
"Do you have food?" Miki asked, a bit louder this time. She heard Joe's mind quickly run over the list of food he could give her. However, the list was short, and the contents weren't exactly extravagant.
"I can cook up some ramen," Joe said.
Miki frowned. "That's poor man's soup," Miki said. It was something her father would say whenever he made ramen. She didn't hate ramen noodle soup. But Miki wanted something a bit more filling. Her stomach in particular was craving a full-on dinner. But Miki doubted Joe had one ready for her.
"Well, I'm a poor man," Joe replied, "If you wanted something more expensive then you should have trespassed in a rich man's home."
Miki sighed. "Can I just have a sandwich or something?" she asked.
"Fine," Joe said gruffly. He was turning around to head back into the kitchen when he suddenly froze. Miki heard his mind suddenly shift, focussing on movement that Joe had spotted coming from outside of the house. With her telepathy, Miki could see through the eyes of another person. After all, images captured by the eyes are sent to and processed by the brain. So Miki could, if she wanted, see what Joe was seeing. But it wasn't like hearing conscious thoughts, where it happened naturally. Miki had to focus and actively search for the images a person was seeing, similar to how she searched through a person's memory. Also like that ability, this was something that took time and effort, something that Miki currently couldn't afford.
So, instead, Miki simply turned around and looked over the top of the couch, peering through the window out at the road beyond. She froze when she did so. A jeep had pulled up to the sidewalk passing in front of the house, parking a few feet from the driveway. The jeep itself only looked vaguely familiar to her. The men that stepped out of it, Miki recognized immediately. They were the men who had tried to kidnap her. They seemed to have found her once again.
Miki scrambled back from the window in a panic. Joe quickly picked up on her distress and gave her a confused look. "What's wrong?" he asked.
"I've got to get out of here," Miki muttered quickly. She then whirled around and tried to run, but Joe suddenly lunged and grabbed ahold of her arm.
Miki whipped around, slapping him with her free hand. It was a hard slap too, with a loud smack piercing the air. But Joe didn't let go. He cursed and cursed loudly. But he didn't let go. He only grabbed her other arm and forced her to face him.
Miki was about to use her telekinesis to free herself, but Joe gave her a serious stare and said, "Are those the people who did this?" He glanced at Miki's various cuts and bruises. "Did those men hurt you?"
Once more, Miki was surprised by how much Joe, a total stranger, cared about her wellbeing. He had quickly concluded that Miki had been kidnapped, and those men were trying to get her back. But Miki expected a stranger to have no care for a strange girl who trespassed in their home. A stranger may even consider turning her over for the prospect of a reward. Not Joe. His mind was busy figuring out what to do. Not how to harm her, but how to help her. It was this that made Miki hesitate to use her powers once more.
Joe glanced back out the window, his mind noting that the men were almost to the front door. A quick plan then formed, and he turned back to Miki. "Look, this is what you're gonna do," he said. "You're gonna get out of here. Leave through the back door or the window you came in through. Once you're out, run as fast as you can to the nearest police station. There's one a few miles down the road. You'll be safe there."
Miki just looked at Joe, still taken aback by the compassion he was showing her. He was planning to distract the kidnappers. To delay them long enough for Miki to escape. He was truly trying to help her, someone he had just met, and who had just broken into his home.
When she didn't respond, Joe let her go, and said, "Go! Do you hear me? Go now!"
At last, Miki snapped back to reality. She whirled around and bolted down the hallway. She didn't plan to go to a police station like Joe had told her to. She had enough social interaction for one day. Miki also didn't want the police to ship her off to some orphanage because she had no parents. But she would take the opportunity to escape. She could only hope that Joe would distract the hunters long enough for Miki to escape and lose the kidnappers for good.
Miki rounded the corner and charged into the room she had first broken into. She rushed over and grabbed the windowsill, preparing to throw the window open and climb out.
But what about Joe?
The stray thought made Miki suddenly freeze. The only thing between her and escape was a single window. All she needed to do was climb through the window and she would be free. And yet, she didn't move. She couldn't. But why? Because of Joe? Miki could hear his mind in the living room, busily formulating a plan to deal with the kidnappers. Joe was doing this so she could escape, and yet Miki found that she just couldn't move. She just couldn't leave.
Why? Because Joe had helped her? Miki scoffed and shook her head. She still barely knew the guy, and he barely knew her. They were strangers. Why did she feel obligated to help him? Because he hadn't immediately kicked her out of his home? Because he had offered to help her? Miki had walked by thousands of people on her way to San Francisco, and none of them ever offered her any sort of help. Not that she wanted any. People were more trouble than they were worth. But, then why was Miki still not moving?
The kidnappers had entered the house now, their conversation echoing in Joe's mind as they confronted each other. Miki had to get going, and now, or else Joe's delay would mean nothing. But could Miki leave him to the hunters? They wanted to capture Miki alive, but if they discovered that Joe had been helping her, what would they do to him? Murder seemed extreme, but it was still a possibility. Could Miki leave an innocent man to the kidnappers even after he had helped her? A part of her was screaming for her to stop delaying and run away, but another part, one deep down in her gut, told her that was the wrong thing to do.
Miki shook her head with an annoyed growl. Whatever she was going to do, she had to do it quickly. Joe wouldn't be able to delay the kidnappers for much longer, especially if they had psychic powers.
With a final, resolute sigh, Miki closed her eyes and made a decision.
Joe only spared a moment to watch the young girl flee down the hallway before turning away and running into the kitchen. Whoever those men were, he couldn't let them get their hands on that little girl. Not if they were the ones who had hurt her. The reason why Joe had rushed into the kitchen was that he had brought out medical supplies, which he had intended to use on the girl. But, if those men spotted them, they may realize Joe's involvement with the girl. Such a conclusion was not one Joe wanted them to make, for both his and the girl's sake.
Admittedly, a part of him wondered why he had even bothered to help the girl. She was a stranger, after all, and one who had intruded in his home. She also had trespassed in the one room in which Joe had his work, which he'd prefer to be something only he knew of. But Joe quickly disbanded such thoughts. The girl was clearly in trouble, and he couldn't stand by and let something terrible happen to her. Sandra would help the girl, as would Ford. So Joe would do the same, even if it meant facing potentially dangerous criminals.
Just as Joe was shoving a first aid kit roughly into a cabinet shelf, the doorbell chimed. Joe, perhaps too quickly, responded "On my way!" He then closed the shelf and ran out of the kitchen.
He only paused briefly to calm down and put on an indifferent, unknowing expression. Joe wasn't very good at poker, but Sandra once said that he could have been a decent actor. Either way, it was going to have to do. Joe sighed and carefully opened the door.
He was greeted with the sight of two men. The immediate impression Joe got from them was that they were wild game hunters. They wore an outfit typical of the classic adventurer. A brown jacket, khaki pants, and heavy boots. One of the men, who stood behind the other, even wore a safari hat. The one before him, who seemed to be the leader, didn't wear a hat, allowing Joe to see his silver-grey hair.
Joe quickly remembered that he had seen three men step out of the jeep, not two. One must have gone around the back, possibly hoping to cut the girl off if she were to try to escape. Or perhaps, to attack Joe from behind if he were to resist. Either way, Joe could only hope that Miki was already out of the house and on her way to the police. He did not like the look of these men, and he did not want to imagine what they had planned for the girl.
"What do you want?" Joe asked, trying his best to sound indifferent.
"Sorry to bother you," the silver-haired man said calmly. "My friend and I were driving down the street when we spotted someone breaking into your home."
Yeah right, Joe thought sarcastically. He knew that, if these men had actually spotted the girl trespassing into his house, they would have knocked at Joe's door a lot sooner. The men could have witnessed the girl breaking in since Joe couldn't think of how they could have known she was here in the first place. But that simply indicated that the men took their time in coming to warn him. So either the men had hesitated in warning Joe, or they had stopped to form a plan before approaching him. Considering the girl's reaction to the men, Joe guessed it was the latter.
Even so, Joe simply replied, "Thanks for your concern, but I'm pretty sure I'd know if a robber was in my house."
"Would you?" the silver-haired man replied skeptically. "A good robber isn't easily caught."
"If someone's trying to break into my house, I doubt they're a good robber," Joe pointed out. "Who would want to steal from a poor man?"
"Someone desperate enough," the man retorted.
Joe sighed. "Trust me, there's no one in my house. You either saw nothing or got the wrong house. Have a good day." He tried closing the door on them, but the man extended his arm and pushed back. With his superior strength, the man shoved Joe out of the way, forcing himself into the house.
"What the hell are you doing?" Joe exclaimed, trying to push him back out. But the man's companion stepped in and pushed Joe out the way, giving the man room to enter the house. In response, Joe yelled, "Get the fuck out of my house or I'm calling the police!" Joe intended to call the police anyway, given his suspicions. He turned to get his landline, which was in the kitchen.
"I don't think so," the man said coolly. Joe heard him pull something out, and when he turned, he found the barrel of a pistol aimed directly at his face.
Joe slowly lifted his hands in response, glaring at the silver-haired man. "You will not move from that spot," the man said, holding the pistol steady. "Not until I say so. If you do -"
"I get the point," Joe interrupted.
"Good," the man said. He looked over at his companion. "Check the house, she's got to be here somewhere."
Joe narrowed his eyes, his suspicions having practically been confirmed. These men were after the girl. The exact reason was still unknown, but it couldn't be good.
The younger man nodded, pulling out a gun of his own. He turned towards the hallway but suddenly froze. His eyes widened. "Dale…"
"GO AWAY!"
The scream immediately caught the attention of everyone in the room. The silver-haired man seemed to completely forget about Joe, lowering his gun and turning away. Joe forgot about him too. He looked over towards the hallway.
Damn it he mentally cursed.
Standing in the hallway was the girl, her fists closed, her face scowling at the two men that faced her. Joe opened his mouth. But before he could tell her to run, the girl did something that took his voice away. Time almost slowed as the girl raised her hands, uncurling her fists and spreading her fingers. She threw her hands forward in a pushing motion.
"Leave me ALONE!"
Suddenly, both men were sent flying backward, as if they had been hit by a speeding vehicle. They slammed against the wall, landing on either side of the doorway. The guns of the two men scattered away, and the hat of the young man landed at his feet.
Joe stood there, frozen in shock. His mind was spinning, trying to comprehend what had just happened. The two men had been stronger than Joe, easily pushing him aside. Yet they had just been tossed around by toys. The only person near them was the young girl, and she wasn't even near them.
"What the fuck…" Joe muttered, staring in a daze at the men's bodies.
Joe finally returned to reality when he felt a tug on his arm.
"Come on!" said the girl. "We've got to go!"
"But what…"
"Don't worry about that now," the girl said. "The third one is coming and these two won't be far behind. We have to leave now!"
Joe sighed and nodded, trying to push his many questions to the back of his mind. "My car is out front. Let's go."
They bolted for the door, running past the two men slumped over against the wall. They seemed to be out of commission, but Joe knew they wouldn't stay that way for long. There was also the third man to worry about, though he seemed to have gone around the back of the house. Nothing was standing between them and his car. All he needed to do was start the car and they could escape.
So, of course, that was when Joe realized that his keys were still inside.
"Wait!" Joe said, skidding to a halt. "My keys are inside."
Joe wondered if the girl had heard him, for she continued running. But when she got to his car, she said, "Don't worry about that. Just get in and drive."
Joe remembered that he had locked the car too, and was about to inform the girl of such. But then the girl reached out with her hand and, without even touching the car, Joe heard the lock click. The girl then grabbed the door and pulled it open with ease.
"How?" Joe said, running up beside her.
"I said don't worry about it!" the girl retorted. She then dove into the car and crawled over into the passenger.
Joe climbed into the driver's seat and closed the door, but he knew they couldn't get anywhere without his keys. He was about to remind the girl of this fact but, just like with the car door, she simply raised her hand, and the car suddenly roared to life.
Once more, Joe's brain was dumbfounded by such a miracle, but he didn't have time to think about it. Shouts were coming from the house. The two men were back on their feet, and they had a third companion with them. They were armed with guns, which they had aimed right at them.
Without another moment of hesitation. Joe put the car into reverse and pulled out of the driveway and onto the road. "Buckle up!" he yelled. Joe put the car into gear and slammed down on the gas. The car lurched forward, speeding down the road away from the kidnappers.
"They're getting away!" Bill exclaimed. He raised his pistol, aiming it at the Renault as it sped down the street.
However, before he could shoot, Dale grabbed the gun and snatched it away. "Don't shoot, you idiot!" he said.
"But -"
"The last thing we want is to have the police on our tail," Dale explained. "Besides, we still have her tracked, right Hank?"
Hank nodded and pulled out the tracker. The tracker was a small, rectangular device, with a small screen on the top end and a collection of buttons at the bottom end. The screen displayed a map of San Francisco and was zoomed in on a collection of streets. There, moving steadily down one road, was a blinking red dot. Dale knew that this dot signified the girl's location. As long as the girl had the tracker on her, they would know exactly where she was, even if she were to leave the city.
It was all thanks to their employer. He had developed a technology that allowed for such advanced tracking. It had to do with satellites or something. Dale was familiar with some technology, but this was a little over his head. But it didn't matter if Dale knew what made it work, all he needed to do was know how to work it.
However, even this technology would be ineffective if the girl removed the tracker. It was doubtful that she would find it, but the existence of this ally of hers, the man who had been willing to defend her, was troublesome. He alone could destroy the entire plan. He could find the tracker and remove it. Worse, the man would probably take the girl to the police and report the incident. Then it wouldn't matter if they fired their weapons or not. The police would be on them all the same.
Unless…
"But won't they be headin' for the police?" Hank asked.
A sly smile slid onto Dale's face. "Don't worry about that," he said. "I have a plan."
The neighborhood flashed by as the car sped down the road. It was moving as fast as it could go, though that was still a bit slow for Miki's liking. Every so often, they would pass by a pedestrian or another car driving down the street. Miki hadn't been in a moving vehicle many times since she developed her powers. It seemed that it was quite easy to ignore the thoughts of that outside of the car. They passed by so quickly Miki could hardly tell what they were thinking before they were gone. This made riding in moving vehicles easy on her headaches, though it did force her to have contact with at least one other person.
Though, in this case, she didn't have much of a choice.
Joe was gripping the wheel tightly, focussing intently on the road before them. It was pretty easy to ignore his thoughts since he was so focussed on the road and not focused on her. But she paid attention to his thoughts anyway, for it was quite important to know what he was thinking. While he may be focused on driving at the moment, he would not stay that way for much longer.
Miki could still hardly believe that she had used her powers in front of a stranger so willingly. The last time she willingly revealed her powers to others was when she was in the orphanage two years ago. That hadn't ended well. This was a different situation, of course. Joe was actually trying to help her. But Miki was still shocked she had let herself blatantly reveal her powers in front of a stranger. After two years of alienating herself from society, she had revealed her greatest secret to a man she had only known for a few minutes. To a man who had merely offered to help her.
Miki was still considering if she should explain her powers to Joe if they ever got to a place of safety. Perhaps she should just ditch him. Miki was still unsure what Joe would do if she did explain it to him. His focus on the road prevented any thoughts about her powers from coming to light. She could search his subconscious, but that would leave her vulnerable. She would just have to trust that Joe would still help her despite these new revelations.
Trusting in a stranger. That's how desperate Miki had become.
I've got to get her to the police.
The thought came from Joe, and it freaked Miki out. "You can't do that!" she yelled, completely forgetting that Joe hadn't said anything.
Joe gave Miki a confused glance. "What?"
Miki realized her mistake but figured it was just another thing she would have to explain later. "We can't go to the police!"
Did she… read my mind?
The thought nearly made Miki wince, but she ignored it and said, "We just can not go to the police!" She was aware of the kind of help the police could offer, but she still didn't want to confront them. She feared they would send her to an orphanage, which was one of the last places she wanted to be. Worse than that would be the police discovering her history of theft and robbery, landing her in a jail cell where even her powers might be useless.
But, most of all, she couldn't let the police discover her powers. This would be easy to do by herself, but Joe was with her, and she couldn't guarantee that he wouldn't tell the police about what she'd seen. If the police knew about her powers, she could end up in some government facility being experimented on. That would be about as bad as whatever plans the kidnappers had for her. She needed to escape the kidnappers, but she needed to avoid using the police to do so.
Joe, however, had other ideas. Frowning, he said, "I don't know what's going on in your life, but I promise you the police are a much better alternative to those kidnappers. The police will take care of you. They will not." He then sighed. "Look, if it makes you feel better, I promise you I won't tell the police about whatever magic tricks you used back there."
Miki looked down at her shoes. Joe was still devoting some of his attention to the road, but from what she could tell, he was being sincere. He was still confused about what he had seen, but he truly wasn't going to tell the police about it. Even so, Miki still wasn't sure if they should go to the police. Perhaps it would be better if Joe took her across the city, far away from her pursuers.
Joe had returned his focus to the road, but Miki noticed that he had slowed down. She then heard him think, They don't seem to be following us… Miki looked back over her shoulder and, sure enough, there was no sign of the kidnappers.
"I think we lost them," Joe said. However, Miki didn't feel entirely relieved. She was still a bit nervous. Their escape just seemed easy. Too easy. It was almost like the kidnappers weren't trying to capture them. She wasn't even sure if they had chased them at all. Miki wondered if the kidnappers were so confident in their telepathic abilities that they didn't feel the need to chase after them. But she wasn't sure that this was the case either. She wasn't even confident in that theory anymore.
The encounter with the kidnappers had left some holes in her theory that they had telepathic powers. For one thing, Miki had seemed to have caught them by surprise. She had attempted to keep her mind as quiet as possible, but she still doubted that she could have caught them off guard if they truly had such powers. Then there was the fact that they hadn't even attempted to use any sort of telekinetic abilities during their confrontation. The same was true during the initial chase as well. This led Miki to believe that perhaps those two men did not have psychic abilities. That left only the third man, who had probably gone around to the back of the house. It was possible that he did have psychic powers, and he was simply the only one who did. But Miki still had her doubts that this was the case. If he did have psychic powers, Miki wasn't sure that she would have been able to escape in the first place.
It seemed that the kidnappers truly didn't have any psychic powers, which did bring Miki some relief. But that still left some important questions. How were they able to keep up with her? How did they always seem to know where she was? Before she could come up with an answer, her thoughts were disrupted by the sound of a wailing siren and the sudden flashes of blue and red lights.
Joe released a sigh of relief. "Thank God for speeding tickets," he said. He looked over at her. "You will be safe now."
Miki didn't respond. She wasn't entirely sure if she believed him.
The car slowed down as Joe pulled the car over to the side of the road. Out of the rearview mirror, Miki watched as the police car pulled over a short distance behind them. Ten meters, in fact. She could just hear the two police officers sitting in their vehicle.
A blue Renault Alpine A310 going almost thirty over the speed limit.
This has to be him.
We've found our kidnapper.
Miki's eyes widened as she processed the policemen's thoughts. "We have to go!" she said, looking over at Joe. "Now!"
"I already told you," Joe replied with a sigh, "you will be safe with the police."
"No, you don't understand!" she exclaimed. "They're not here to give you a speeding ticket, they're here to arrest you!"
"Now why would they do that?" Joe asked dismissively.
"Because they think you kidnapped me!" Miki retorted.
Joe looked over into the side view mirror. The two cops had since left their vehicle, and were carefully approaching, pistols held firmly in hand. Joe's eyes widened when he spotted them. Turning back, he asked, "How the hell do you know that?"
"Just trust me!" Miki pleaded desperately. "Step on it while we have the chance!
Joe looked back at the side mirror, deep in thought. Miki could hear his thought process, and she was horrified by where it led. "Don't you dare turn yourself in!" she yelled.
"Look," Joe snapped, giving her a serious stare, "this is all probably just some big misunderstanding. Explaining our side of the story will clear everything up. Running away will only convince them that I'm guilty. So if we just sit here and do nothing, we will be fine." Miki attempted to interject, but Joe cut her off. "If you want me to trust you, you will have to trust me."
Miki looked down at the pedals by Joe's feet. The car was in park, but it would not take much to put it into drive and push the gas pedal with her mind. She could force them to run even if Joe didn't want to. But she also knew that Joe had a point. Running was a sure sign of guilt. While Miki didn't want help from the police, she preferred that over being chased by them. Besides, Miki figured that the kidnappers would have a tougher time getting to her if she were in the police's custody. Miki sighed and crossed her arms, but did nothing else.
"Fine," she muttered.
At that moment the two cops reached their car, the two of them standing on opposite sides of the vehicle. Their guns were trained on Joe as he slowly raised his hands above his head.
"Please step out of the vehicle, sir," the officer on Joe's side, a Caucasian man with a small goatee, said sternly.
"Yes, sir," Joe said. He carefully lowered one hand to push open the car door and to unbuckle himself. When he did so, Joe carefully stepped out of the car.
At the same time, the other officer, a young Hispanic man, spoke to Miki in a calm, gentle voice. "Come on out of the car. You'll be safe with me." Miki wanted to yell at the officer. To tell him that they were mistaken in thinking Joe was her kidnapper. But until the police informed them that Joe was being arrested for kidnapping, they couldn't tell the officers otherwise without possibly giving away Miki's secret. So, Miki kept quiet and began to carefully step out of the car.
"May I ask what I did, officer?" Joe asked carefully, standing with his arms high above his head.
The policeman ignored Joe, looking over the car at his partner to ask, "Is the girl alright?"
Miki found herself being inspected by the officer standing beside her. He looked carefully at her arms, legs, and face, frowning as he did so. Eventually, he stepped back, and said, "She has a lot of cuts and bruises, especially on her arms and legs."
"I'm okay!" Miki retorted. "This isn't -"
"Did you have something to do with that?" the Caucasian officer asked Joe in a commanding voice, tightening his grip on his pistol.
"No sir," Joe said quickly. "That -"
"Turn around!" the officer suddenly yelled. "Put your hands on the vehicle!"
As Joe complied, Miki looked at the policeman standing beside her. "Let him go!" she said. "He didn't do anything wrong!"
The cop gave her a sympathetic look. "Don't worry, he can't hurt you anymore."
"No, you're not listening!" she yelled. "He didn't do this to me! He's innocent!"
The Hispanic man's face twisted into confusion. "What do you -"
POP!
Suddenly, one of the minds went completely silent. This was soon followed by a dull thud. It seemed to come from the other side of the car. She looked to see Joe standing there, arms still held above his head, but with his back to the car. His eyes were wide and he was looking at the ground. His mind was filled with only one image. The police officer lay at his feet, face down. His police hat had rolled a foot or so away. Then there was the puddle of blood, expanding slowly from beneath his head.
Miki was frozen. She stared at the fallen body but was unable to process what had happened. It happened so quickly. So suddenly. She thought - she hoped - that she had just imagined it all. That this was just some bad dream.
But, it wasn't.
Joe and the officer seemed to have been in a similar shocked state, but the officer returned to reality first. The officer yelled, making Joe and Miki jump as they were pulled back to reality. At the same time, he lifted his gun and aimed it directly at Joe's head.
"YOU SON OF A -"
Miki whirled back around and frantically waved her hands at the enraged police officer. "No, wait!"
POP!
For a split second, Miki thought the policeman had fired the gun. But it was not Joe's mind who went silent. It was not Joe's body that hit the ground, nor his pistol that scattered on the ground away from him. Miki stared at the fallen police officer, watching as blood flowed from his body. She desperately wanted to run or at least look away. But she found herself frozen in place. Cemented to the ground. She could not move until she felt someone shaking her.
"Girl! Girl!" said a voice.
Miki looked over to see Joe's face, looking desperate and fearful.
"Come on!" Joe said. "We have to run!"
A/N - Hello guys! I'm back again. I know I said I would try to have this chapter out a month or so ago but then life happened. Fortunately, summer vacation just started, so I should have more time to work on my writing. In fact, I decided to try something. I am going back to the one chapter a week schedule I had followed back when I had first started writing. I plan to post a chapter on any of my stories (not necessarily this one) on Sunday. Of course, there may come times when I might be late or even early to that deadline. Just because it's summer doesn't mean I won't be busy, and I'm not going to sacrifice quality for quantity. If this happens, I'll aim to post one week after the last chapter I posted. Also, this is a schedule I will only be kept for the summer. Once school starts again, it'll be harder to keep that schedule. Until then, there should be an increase in progress. Starting today. With that out of the way, I hope you guys enjoyed this chapter. No monster action, but Miki and Joe have finally meant and their adventure together has finally begun. The next chapter will probably continue with them being chased by the hunters. I might be able to sneak in some scenes with other characters, but no promises. That may not be for a while, though, since I plan on working on some of my other stories. Jurassic World: Dominion is coming out soon, after all. I want the next chapter of my Jurassic Park story to come out around then. Well, that's all for now. I hope you have a great day and I'll see you next week (hopefully)!
